"No doubt about that," said Servadac; "and I suppose that,
having crossed the orbit of Venus, we have a good chance
of running into the orbit of Mercury."

"And finish up by a collision with the sun!" added the count.

"There is no fear of that, sir. The earth has undoubtedly entered
upon a new orbit, but she is not incurring any probable risk of being
precipitated onto the sun."

"Can you satisfy us of that?" asked the count.

"I can, sir. I can give you a proof which I think you will
own is conclusive. If, as you suppose, the earth is being
drawn on so as to be precipitated against the sun, the great
center of attraction of our system, it could only be because
the centrifugal and centripetal forces that cause the planets
to rotate in their several orbits had been entirely suspended:
in that case, indeed, the earth would rush onwards towards the sun,
and in sixty-four days and a half the catastrophe you dread
would inevitably happen."

"And what demonstration do you offer," asked Servadac eagerly,
"that it will not happen?"

"Simply this, captain: that since the earth entered her new orbit half
the sixty-four days has already elapsed, and yet it is only just recently
that she has crossed the orbit of Venus, hardly one-third of the distance
to be traversed to reach the sun."